Ice Fact Sheet

A smokeable methamphetamine, known on the streets as "Ice," is a colorless and odorless form of crystal methamphetamine, the stimulant commonly known as speed. Like crack cocaine, Ice is smoked to produce a euphoric high. A puff of crack buoys its user for approximately 20 minutes, but the high from smoking Ice endures for 12 to 24 hours. Ice can be manufactured in clandestine speed laboratories which are prevalent throughout the United States; consequently, the availability of this drug has a greater potential for abuse than crack cocaine.

Because it is odorless, Ice can be smoked in public virtually without detection. In solid form, the drug resembles rock candy or a chip of Ice. When lighted in a glass pipe, the crystals turn to liquid and produce a potent vapor that enters the bloodstream directly through the lungs. Ice reverts to its solid state when it cools, thus becoming reusable and highly transportable.

Ice users initially suffer weight loss and insomnia because of the stimulation from the drug. It may produce highly excitable and agitated behavior with symptoms of acute psychosis. Severe paranoia, hallucinations, and impaired ability to speak coherently make its addicts temporarily indistinguishable from paranoid schizophrenics.

This drug has other street names besides Ice. These include: Batu, California Glass, or Crystals.